egg yegg
Contradictory assessments. First recorded in 1925–30, Americanism; of obscure origin; the proposals that the word is from German Jäger “hunter” or that it is the surname of a well-known safecracker are both very dubious. Or how about a fictitious safecracker? Popularized by the Pinkerton agency detectives. The 1900 "Proceedings of the 26th annual convention of the American Bankers' Association," whose members were protected by the Pinkerton's National Detective Agency, reported a letter dated Nov. 23 or 24, 1899, returning $540, taken earlier that year, to the Scandinavian-American Bank of St. Paul, Minn., noting that the thieves had been so hounded by detectives that they gave up the gains and advised the bank to advertise that it was a member of the American Bankers Association, because "the American Bankers Association is too tough for poor 'grafters.'" The letter supposedly was signed "John Yegg," but this was said to be a pseudonym and the report identified the man arrested later in the case as William Barrett. Though / AND Its earliest known use in print is from a 1901 New York Times article. This same article also includes the first known print use of the variant yeggmen. Goo Goo g'joob.
A jolt on Archie's head.
I think the revising editors are just screwing around with this one.
